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Giving Thanks for Pete’s
By Jeannie Greenwald on Nov 22, 2011 in Arts & Entertainment, Featured, Neptune Beach, Our Beach Towns, Uncategorized
Thanksgiving at the beach would not be complete without dropping in at Pete’s Bar in Neptune Beach. Despite the many years of these Thanksgiving ‘pre-family dinner gathering-for-cocktails‘ get togethers, many beaches residents (or townies) have yet to experience a Thanksgiving at Pete’s. If you haven’t, you should. It’s tradition, y’all.
This tradition has morphed over the years, from a smaller group of neighborhood friends gathering in the bar while dinner was being prepared at home, to a large, street party – crowds from Pete’s spilling out onto the sidewalks.
A couple of years ago, the city of Neptune Beach began to close off one block of First Street, south of Atlantic Boulevard, in front of Pete’s, to keep the party contained and people safe, from 9:00am – 2:00pm. Gradually, some of the other local restaurants and shops have opened for those few hours on Thanksgiving; this year, several merchants in the Beaches Town Center are opening the doors of their establishments to take advantage of the Pete’s traffic. Why not?
So, you might want to get your turkey in the oven early enough to head over to the corner, and have some fun with your neighbors. Come on, you know you want to! And if you’ve never been, why not make this the year that you do?
Here is a post, from the website Atlantic Beachlife, about my first time at Pete’s on Thanksgiving Day in 2009.
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Today I had to stop by Pete’s Bar in Neptune Beach for their annual Thanksgiving Day “cocktail party”. It starts at 10:00am and the crowds pour into the street, partying and drinking, and toasting the holiday (for those of us who are released from kitchen duty) under a lovely Florida sun with temps in the upper 60s. This year, Neptune Beach closed off one block entirely for four hours so people could spill out of the bar, onto the sidewalk and into the street. People were milling about, hugging it out with friends – old and new – the way only people who’ve been…celebrating for a while can do.
It was like partying at a beer tent, back when we lived in Michigan (do they have beer tents in the south or is it a regional thing?). I’ve lived at the beach for ten years now and today was my first Thanksgiving Day at Pete’s.
A bit about Pete’s Bar. Established in 1933, it’s one of these beloved, neighborhood hole-in-the-wall bars, with a dark interior, several pool tables, a long bar with many tables, and smoking. It’s been featured in the John Grisham novel The Brethren, and is one of many bars in the town center area of Atlantic and Neptune Beaches. But Pete’s is a bar’s bar; like the place I met my husband, The Post bar in Detroit, Michigan.
It’s your basic, neighborhood joint where generations of beaches residents have to come to celebrate life’s moments, and probably cry about them too; to pick up guys or girls, or maybe just pass the time.The Thanksgiving cocktail party tradition started over 20 years ago, when an employee volunteered to work for the owner who lived upstairs, so she could spend Thanksgiving with her family. People would stop in to keep him company, and over the years it just evolved into this Thanksgiving tradition, with Bloody Marys at 10am, beer and drinks, too; finally it became a big ole good time, a street party on Thanksgiving day. By the time we arrived today, the crowd was in high spirits and it was time for us to crack a beer.
At 2:00, the Neptune Beach law enforcement rolled in to clear the street to good-natured cheers and jeers, all in good fun.
After that, people either went home to continue with their personal Thanksgivings, or retreated inside the bar, to continue toasting, hollering, shooting pool, or hanging with friends.
And that’s how Thanksgiving is done at Pete’s.
